Seattle Rapper Raz Simone To Spearhead Lyor Cohen’s 300 Label [VIDEO]

There is always a gamble involved when moguls choose to bank on an upstart record label. The same goes for music companies signing unproven talent.

Lyor Cohen is doubling down against the odds by betting on Raz Simone to be the first face of his new 300 imprint.

It appears that Macklemore will either have competition or a friendly rival to share his hometown spotlight with as Simone too, hails from Seattle.

All it took was the previously released EP Solomon Samuel Simone to land Simone onto Cohen’s radar and the rest, as they say, is history.

“I had already been building this whole other company [Black Umbrella] and were talking to Lyor and Todd [Moscowitz] before anyone had even knew what they were doing,” Simone recalls to MTV. And the budding relationship seems to be one of those long haul situations.

“Pretty much everything I do will be with this partnership until it doesn’t make sense anymore,” he continued.

In the early stages of any venture, there is always a drive and excitement in the uncertainty so we’ll take him at his word. And they’re wasting no time to keep the wheels moving as the album Cognitive Dissonance: Part One is slated for a February release.

In the meantime, talk is cheap without the current music to back it up. Watch Simone’s national debut interview with MTV below and jump over to the next page to see his latest music video, “Don’t Shine.”